Batting

UNIVERSITY CENTER -- The Saginaw Valley State University baseball team continued league play on Saturday (Apr. 22) as the Cardinals began a four-game weekend series with the Wayne State Warriors. The Cardinals pitched well in Game 1 to secure a 3-2 victory over the Warriors. Saginaw Valley dropped the second game by an 8-7 final count.

Game One

SVSU held Wayne State scoreless in the top of the 1st and would strike first in the contest in the bottom frame with two runs.

SVSU put two runners on base when Brendan Harrison reached base safely with a single that bumped Chad Carson up to third. Carson would then come around to score on the next at-bat, as a wild pitch brought in the game's first run. Harrison would move into scoring position and be driven-in by an Adam Turner single.

Adam Fitzgibbon went 1-for-2 at the plate and drew a walk. He added an RBI to his line in the first inning.

On the Mound

Amani Godfrey toed the slab in Game 1 for the Cardinals and was credited with the win (W, 2-1). He pitched 5.2 innings for the Cardinals and allowed two runs on seven hits, walked one and struck out seven.

Tyler Stambaugh pitched 1.0 inning in relief for SVSU and gave up one hit and fanned one batter.

Jake Tarbell recorded the final out of the contest and earned his fifth save of the season.

Game Two

Saginaw Valley took the lead once again in the nightcap with a solo home run to right center field from Adam Fitzgibbon. His fifth home run of the season gave the Cardinals the 1-0 lead.

The one-run advantage quickly turned in favor of Wayne State, which erased the deficit in the top of the 2nd and took its first lead of the afternoon. The Warriors would score four runs in the inning with a pair of singles driving in two runs apiece. Wayne State was now ahead 4-1 on SVSU, which did not score in the bottom of the second.

SVSU cut the deficit to 4-2 with a Collin Winters RBI single that hopped over the third baseman, allowing Cole Brooks to score. Winters came around to score from first base on the next at-bat, as Austin Koin delivered a pinch-hit RBI double for the Cardinals.

The run scoring continued into the fourth inning for both teams. Wayne State added a run in the fourth off a double to go ahead 5-3 on Cardinals. Saginaw Valley responded in the bottom frame with three runs, regaining the lead from the Warriors as Jordan Swiss scored from an Adam Fitzgibbon base hit. Fitzgibbon advanced to second base on a steal and was driven in on the next play with a single from Chad Carson. He also brought home Nate Blackwell, who reached base on a walk with no outs.

Both teams were held scoreless in the fifth and each added a run in the sixth inning to set the score at 7-6 in favor of SVSU.

Wayne State jumped ahead once again in the seventh inning by plating two runs from a double and fielding error, pushing the score to 8-7. The one-run lead for the Warriors was tested in the next three innings, as SVSU put runners in scoring position to end the seventh inning and then again in the ninth.

The Cardinals threatened to score in the bottom of the ninth after a triple from Jordan Swiss put the tying run just 90 feet from home. Wayne State recorded the final out to take Game 2 by a count of 8-7.

Inside the Boxscore

Brendan Harrison finished out the nightcap with a 3-for-5 performance at the plate.